The essential offers a new perspective on the psychotherapy of adolescents. It should not only be nosologically oriented but also take into account a structural and functional analysis of the symptoms in the indication for therapeutic measures, in order to address the developmental tasks, life themes, and the familial or extrafamilial context – that is, the current living conditions – of the adolescents. Cybernetic models for goal-directed behavior allow for functional descriptions of symptom interconnections that evade direct therapeutic influence and can only be altered through the identification of inner goals, which they serve, via behavioral alternatives.